Best introduction to trading course?

Rebelheart

Hi,

I've money saved and I'm now thinking of investing in stocks, shares or something else (commodities etc) to get a better return. I haven't a clue about where to start so I'm wondering is there any course out there which could give me an excellent introduction to doing my own trading?

I see from some online googling that the Irish Institute of Financial Trading is starting an 8-week course this Tuesday, 15 October, named Diploma in Financial Trading. Here's a summary of the course. It costs €950. Has anybody done this course? What, if any, are the names of better courses for a rookie like me? Is this one worth paying €950 for?

Thanks.

zl1whqvjs75cdy

Also of interest to me. I'll piggy back if that's ok op.

Value Hunter

Hi Lads,

I wouldn't recommend that course, everything up to a reasonably advanced level can be studied for free online, I wouldn't waste your money with them.

How much can they teach you in 16 hours that you can't teach yourself? That course is particularly for traders as well, from your op I take it you were more interested in investing longer term?

This forums really picked up lately, use it as well as online resources and you'll pick up the basics soon enough

Pennystockwhiz

There's so much excellent free information on learning how to trade on the internet ,it'd be a shame to spend €950 on that trading course..

Starting out the two best books I read were the Intelligent investor + Security Analysis by Ben Graham... Absolute must reads

kilburn

Save your money and buy this

http://www.omahonys.ie/catalog/the-intelligent-investor-p-2882.html

Pennystockwhiz

Amen.. It's the stock market bible! Type this into "The Intelligent Investor pdf"

Michael Henchard

Wo wo wo. Don't just let the value guys beat you over the head and drag you into their cave. There are two main streams of investing methodologies: Value and Growth.

Value investing concentrates on finding stocks which have a stock price which is lower than the inherent value of the stock as calculated by various fundamental analysis methods. The idea being the market will eventually cop on that the stock is worth more and it'll go up. Check out the ben Graham books outlined by the guys above as well as Warren Buffett's letters and Seth Klarman's Margin of Safety.

Growth investing concentrates on stocks which have a stock price which has usually already been going up and which are expected to keep going up as the company will grow further to make it worth the prices being paid. This method is usually ties in with momentum / trend investing and growth investors often use price charts as a guide. Check out William O'Neil's How to Make Money in Stock's, LeFevre's Reminisces of a Stock Operator, Covel's Trend Following.

I took a night course on investing & markets given by a local investor at GMIT. It was €100 - 8 one hr simple lectures around the basics. A great introduction to markets, a broad overview and a course which just made me want to learn more. Look out for something like that in your area rather than paying crazy prices to firms which tell you you'll be Warren Buffett after 3 months.

If you want to get your head into markets Josh Brown's site is the best out there http://www.thereformedbroker.com/

Pennystockwhiz

TastyTrade.com are great for beginners?